This invention relates to a coin collection cart and more particularly, to a high security coin collection cart used for emptying coins from parking meters.
Coin collection carts for parking meters are well known. They make the rounds from parking meter to parking meter collecting the coins that are inserted into the parking meters by motorists in municipalities. The coins collected by the cart are transported to a bank or other secure location where they are unloaded. The amount of money generated from parking meters is often a highly significant source of funds for municipalities and the amount of cash collected from a single coin collection cart in a day can amount to many thousands of dollars in busy locations.
It follows that security is a principal concern of parking meter coin collection. The security involved generally involves the security of the coins themselves after the collection of the coins from the parking meter and it also involves pilferage during the coin collection process. Other considerations involve ergonomics, such as the weight of the coins collected during coin unloading and the ease of the unloading operation. Furthermore, the operation of the cart itself has received surprisingly little attention. On hilly terrain, for example, the cart must be secured when the operator is attending to the parking meter and the weight of the cart, particularly during the later stages of coin collection when the cart is heavy with coins, is significant. Interaction between the operator and the coin cart during cart operation is important.
Heretofore, the design of coin carts has been relatively consistent. This has been the case because parking meter design has been consistent, a typical parking meter holding a cylindrical cannister which holds the coins inserted by the motorist parking within the meter space. The coin cart operator opens the meter with a high quality key and removes the cannister. The cannister containing the coins is inserted into a receptacle on the top of a locked strongbox. The cannister is typically rotated which opens a closed window on the cannister and allows the coins within the cannister to drop into the strongbox. The empty cannister is rotated to its original position, removed from the receptacle on the top of the strongbox and reinserted into the parking meter. The meter is closed. Generally, it is difficult to access the coins within the strongbox until the cart is transported to a secure location where the strongbox is removed from the cart and unlocked. The strongbox is inverted and the coins within the strongbox are dumped into a receptacle or receiving bin for counting and further processing.
The weight of the strongbox when it is loaded with coins is significant, sometimes weighing close to eighty (80) or one hundred (100) pounds. To remove the strongbox from the cart, two men may be required to ease the load. If the strongbox is required to be inverted, it can be difficult for a single operator which is disadvantageous.
A further problem is that access to the coins in the strongbox, although difficult, may not be impossible. For example, a magnetic and flexible rod may be inserted into the strongbox and coins removed after they affix themselves to the magnet. The compromise to coin security is not conducive to entirely satisfactory operation of the coin cart relating to the suspicion of pilferage.
Most prior art coin carts have two wheels and a stop on the bottom of the cart which form a tricycle type support arrangement. When the cart is at rest, the stop is in contact with the ground. When the cart is to be moved, the operator rotates the control handle of the cart and rotates the cart itself about the axis of the two wheels. If the cart is moving uphill, significant weight is transferred to the operator making movement of the cart unnecessarily difficult.
To reduce the weight required to be manipulated by the operator during unloading, canvas bags have been used. The coins fall into a first bag until the operator senses though experience that the bag has reached its desired weight. The operator will open the strongbox, close the first bag and place it in the bottom of the strongbox. He will open a second bag and place it on top of the first full bag. While this reduces the weight required to be manipulated during the unloading operation, it does not enhance and indeed lessens security since the operator can access the interior of the strongbox during coin collection.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a coin cart for parking meter collection comprising a coin receiving receptacle and at least two collection bins for receiving coins from said coin receiving receptacle, each of said collection bins holding a predetermined quantity of coins, each of said collection bins having an opening which is open during said coin receiving and which is closed following removal of said collection bin from said coin cart.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a coin receiving receptacle fixed on a coin cart, said coin receiving receptacle being rotatable by a cannister inserted within said coin receiving receptacle, said coin receiving receptacle and said cannister each having an opening, said opening in said cannister allowing access to said opening in said receptacle during said rotation of said cannister within said receptacle, said receptacle having a locking mechanism allowing rotation of said receptacle during insertion and rotation of said cannister and not allowing rotation of said receptacle when said cannister is not present within said receptacle.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a coin holder for holding coins collected during parking meter coin collection, said coin holder having an opening to allow coins to be collected by said holder through said opening and a sensor for sensing a predetermined quantity of said coins within said coin holder.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a coin collection receiving device for receiving coins collected from a parking meter, said coin collection receiving device comprising a coin chute to allow said coins to be transferred from a coin receiver to at least two receiving bins, said coin chute being operable to allow said coins to be transferred from one of said receiving bins to a second of said receiving bins upon a predetermined quantity of said coins being sensed within said first one of said receiving bins.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an unloading device for a parking meter coin collection cart, said unloading device including a frame operable to receive a coin holder, said frame being rotatable to allow said coin holder to be rotated from an upright to an inverted position.